Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Sorry I haven't been posting much

It's been HECTIC around here, to say the least.  We're in a big push at the office to get everyone taxes filed on time and/or get extensions signed and filed!  There are, literally, thousands of returns our Trust Department pushes out every year, and while I am not a member of that Department we share Estate/Probate/Trust Admin work responsibilities and this time of year everyone helps out whenever one can.  I've been typing so much at the office my fingers are about to fall off and I just don't have much get up and go left when I get home the past few weeks.

Add to that - things have really been hopping with my other sideline (besides all the chess stuff) at ancestry.com where I have five (yes FIVE) separate family trees going, including my own, which is the biggest and baddest of 'em all, Yeah Baby!  I'll take ancestry back on pater's side of the family to 1550 anytime, thank you all very much :)  Hell, back in 1975 I thought it would be a great thing if I could actually prove true my dad's story about one of my Grandma Newton's ancestors who fought in the Civil War taking a bit of an unauthorized leave to come home - just for awhile.  The CIVIL WAR, I thought.  Holy Cow Goddess! 

Well, I have proved that story to be TRUE!  And I discovered many Forsyth relatives (a very interesting group, I must say) who had sons who also fought in the Civil War. that's a big thing this week because of the 150th anniversary of that horrible episode in American HIStory.  Women would have never acted so stupidly.  Well, that's what happens when we let macho men rule the world.  Slaughter, innocents killed all over the place, useless loss of life while the officers were far back from the battle lines directing things like on a video game (where the director of the action never feels any real pain or loss), all for "principle."  Yeah, right. 

I have not been able to prove true by testimony or written documentation another old family story that members of the local Indian Tribe (I think it was probably the Potowatomi) came up to the back porch of the Jerome Forsyth homestead in Bay Settlement, Brown County, Wisconsin every morning during season begging for jam and bread because they loved the sweetness of the jam!  This would have been during the middling 1800's. 

Anyway, just this past week (fewer than 7 days, actually), I've been contacted by three different individuals who either are or may be related distantly to people in my various trees - and - well, it's been hectic.  And frustrating, because I just don't have the time right now to devote to these inquiries as they deserve to be responded to.  I'm getting ready for vacation, people!

Of course, the five pounds I laboriously managed to lose over the prior two weeks of eating salads and counting every single gram of fat, I somehow managed to regain over the course of last Saturday and Sunday.  @%#A*@+%@#!  How do I say that in French? 

People, if you have not been watching "Who Do You Think You Are?" on NBC on Friday evening at 7:00 p.m. Central Standard Time, get with the program and tune it in!  Honestly, you're going to be sucked into the story lines of the celebrities who come on each week and trace a family member or two (or sometimes even three) backward through time. Watching that show may even get you itching to start digging around a bit in your own ancestry.  I encourage you to do so.  You will be amazed by the people you meet - who they were and what they did!  I know it sounds corny and if you watch the t.v. show (link above) you'll hear people say it over and over again - this has been a life-changing experience.  But you know what - it really has been! 

1 comment:

John Webb said...

'Who Do You Think You Are' is brilliant. It's been running in the UK for 7 series (http://www.bbc.co.uk/whodoyouthinkyouare/past-stories/).

The 7th series began with the history of a branch of the Forsyth family, Bruce Forsyth, a TV presenter. No details on-line, as that is quite a recent program.

My favourite program was Jodie Kidd (a model), she traced her ancestry back to Canada, and from there back to some of the first settlers in the US, and then back to England, and then found a church in England with a stained glass window showing her ancestors sailing off to America.

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